The economy of Hong Kong declined 1.4% compared to output of the first quarter, though GDP grew year over year.

Kerry - a regular reader and commentator of Running of the Bulls - posted a link to his brother's blog in the comments section of a recent post.  Since Kerry always has something intelligent to say, I wanted to highlight his brother's blog and offer regular readers of Running of the Bulls the opportunity to check it out.

The name of the blog is EEZ Rider.  It is a blog on coastal and marine environments. 

Well, maybe next year.

However, when the doomsters and perma-bears start being venerated by mainstream thinking - as Nouriel Roubini is beginning to be - then the Zeitgeist of the market is shifting to excessive pessimism. 

From The Onion, via The Big Picture

The IMF estimates that write-downs from the credit crisis will ultimately total $1 trillion.  So does Goldman Sachs.

If so, we are half way there.

I have a philosophy on shorting.  Unlike buying and holding a stock because its cheap - if your analysis correct, valuation will always bail you out if you are patient enough - shorting is more complex.  High valuation is not enough to short, in my opinion.

Shorting is the process of borrowing a security then selling it in the hopes it will fall in value so you can buy it back at a lower price before returning the security to its rightful owner. 

We have posted criticisms of the book Johann Norberg calls The Shlock Doctrine primarily from economists and the Right.  This criticism comes from the Left, written by Jonathan Chait at the New Republic.

Over on Barry Ritholtz’s blog, The Big Picture, he quotes Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg (whose morning market commentary I read diligently)